Improved flour-sifter, colander, and strainer



v"dilated titties @anni @mitra Letters Patent No. 101,423, dated April 5, 1870.

IMPROVED FLoUR-SIFTER, COLA-NBER, AND STRAINER.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the came To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, ALONZO T. Boon and Lucian MILLs,-of the city of Galesburg, in the county of Knox and 'State of Illinois, have invented a new and improved Combined Sieve, Golander, and Strainer for Flour, Fruit, 'and Vegetables; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,-and exact description of the construction and operation .of t-he same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings makiuga'part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view.

Figure 2 is a side elevation.

Figure 3 is a section as indicated by the line x-r of Like letters in the diierent gures of the drawings indicate like parts.

Our invention consists of a concave receptacle or frame with stationary or removable wire legs, in combination with one or more movable sieves, colanders, and strainers, of a hemispherical shape, and a spiral rubber stirrer attached to a wire crank-shaft snpported by a removable spider or wire frame, so that said sieves, colanders, and strainers may be used either for sifting Hour, straining the juice oil fruit, or separating the pulp from vegetables, being easily adjusted andiremoved for the substitut-ion of the one for the other in their respective uses.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the concave receptacle or frame, the top a being of tin, of about two and a half inches in width, and having three wire legs, b, soldered onto the outside thereof, the legs being so bent as to converge toward a point in aline with the center of the receptacle, so as to form the shape ofthe lat-ter, the bottom ends being bent ont enough to support the receptacle or utensil properly, and fastened by a piece of wire, c, wound around in the turn or bend of the legs.

The legs may be made removable, if preferable, for convenience in packing for transportation, by inserting them in sockets d, one of which only is shown in iig. 2.

B is a hemispherical-shaped sieve, which is intended to fit loosely but snugly within the concave receptacle, and rest upon the legs so as to be easily removable and allow of thc substitution of a strainer or colander in lieu of the sieve, when desired to use either for fruit or vegetables, and we design to have the wire of the sieves or strainers turned or plated, especially for fruit or jellies, though the sieve for iour may also be turned if desired.

C is the stirrer, provided with rubber or other flexible material, which is placed between the jaws or sides ot' a tin clamp, of a spiral shape, the clamp conforming to the shape of the hemispherical sieve. The rubber, instead of being rivet-ed to the clamp as herec fm y QJ.

tofore, is held by indentng either side of the clamp,

so as to press the tin slightly into the rubber whereever the indentation is made; thus, in the event of the rnbber'wean'ng out, as will likely be the case, a person can very easily slip it out and put another piece in its place by inserting the blade of a knife -between the rubber and the sides of theclamp, and loosening the Iclamp from it, but where the rubber is riveted this cannot be done well.

Attached centrally to the clamp is the vertical wire crank-shaft f, the ends of the clampbeing secured by a wire brace, g, wound with one or t-,wo turns around the shaft.

The crank-sbaftf is supported by the spider or wire frame above, having three wire arms, h., attached to a tin tube, D, in which the shaft is passed through and has its bearing, the wire arms resting upon the rim ofthe concave receptacle, and strengthened by angular braces of tin E.

The wire arms have coiled spring ends i, so that they may easily be pressed or sprung over the rim of the receptacle to hold the spider or wire frame firmly in place, and may as easily be released from the rim when desiring to remove the spider or wire frame il the changing of the sieves.

The spider or wire frame maybe constructed entirely of wire, if preferable. In that event, the angular tin .braces would be dispensed with, the arms and' braces then being formed of one piece of wire with vthe braces bent angularly, the ends of each arm and rbracevbeing'fastened to circular plates ot' tin solderedl on around the top and bottom of shaft-tube.

We are aware that removable sieves of a flat form have been used, but they are objectionable for the reason they do not present the same area of sifting Aor straining-surface as a hemisphericalone does, conse,- quently the work cannot be performed as ciectually and speedily as with a hemispherical sieve, through we are also aware that a hemispherical sieve has been used before, but being stationary it could only be used for sifting our; therefore, it is not as desirable' and convenient a utensil for general use as this,-where itis proposed to make the hemispherical sieve removable, so that one of another kind, or a strainer or a colander, may be substituted in its place with facility.

\Ve are aware that a removable cast-iron spider or frame has been used, but it is believed, by making it and the shaft of wire, and'having the ends of the arms of the spider coiled or bent, in the manner described, we are enabled to chcapen the cost of its construction, besides rendering it more easily to be fastened and removed from the rim of the receptacle.

Operation.

.By turning thccrank the rubber stirrer is rotated, which tlmroughlystirs the flour or meal and presses @wmfa it against the sides of, and rapidly sifts it through the sieve; and by removing the sieve and inserting the. strainer by the same process, the juice ot' frnitis strained, and by removing the strainer and inserting the colander the pulp may be separated from vegetables, such as potatoes, tomatoes, pumpkins, Src., with` out the inconvenience of manipulating then), as is required by the ordinary process.

Having thus fully described our invention,

What We claim therein ns new, :und desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A concave receptacle or frame, A, with station ary or removable Wire legs b, constructed as described, in. combination with removable hemispherical sieves, colanders, and strainers, substantially as and for `the purposes set fort-h. Y

2. The removable wire frame, consisting of wire :mns h, with coiled spring ends i, tube D, and angular braces E, for supporting the shaft of arotary s-tirrer or sera-per, in combination with a-stationary or removable sieve :nul concave receptacle, substantially as set tbrth.

As evidence that we claim the foregoing as our invention, we have hereunto set our names in the presenceoi two witnesses.

ALONZO' T. BOON.

LUOIEN MILLS.

Witnesses BENJ. LOMBARD, Jr., D. H. FRIsBm, 

